World History
The world history of Polis is the global timeline of historical events, beginning with the Prehistoric Era, followed by the Ancient Era (AE), and ending with the Current Era (CE). In the 18th Century, historians divided world history into a series of distinct Ages, starting from the Classical Age (9000 AE - 1400 AE) and classified everything before as Prehistoric. Beginning with the Agricultural Revolution around ~9000 AE, humanity abandoned the the nomadic hunter/gather lifestyle of Prehistory, and began to cultivate crops and practice animal husbandry, enabling the creation of permanent settlements. This marked the beginning of the Classical Age, which saw the first several great empires and civilisations, and the beginnings of metallurgy and written language. In 1400 AE, Vetuia, a city civilisation on the western coast of the Corona Gulf quickly rose as the dominant power in Pripascia and parts of Kandron. This was the start of the Vetuian Age, a period of great scientific and technological advancement, which ended in 0 AE when Vetuia fell to Kandronian barbarics. Starting in 1 CE, humanity descended into a centuries-long era of warfare and technological backpedaling commonly known as the Crumbling Age (officially the First Post-Vetuian Age). Around 300 AE the world calmed and the Empty Centuries (officially the Second Post-Vetuian Age) ensued. Characterized by slow technological advancement of any sort, the Empty Centuries were dominated by the rise of kingdoms worldwide, advancing the world toward a more modern political geography. Many modern states have their beginnings in the late Empty Centuries. It is distinct from the geological History of Polis, which examines the formation and evolution of the planet. OOC Note: This page is far from finished, and it will continue to be developed as Civitas grows and develops. Please note that there are a lot of parallels to IRL human history, and most of them are intentional. Prehistoric Era Human Evolution Anthropologists date the beginning of human evolution about 5 million years ago, when the genetic linage that would eventually become humans diverged from the linage that eventually became the modern chimpanzees. Anatomical modernity was reached around 250,000 - 200,000 years ago. Humans are thought to have reached their current evolutionary state, known as behavioral modernity, around 50,000 AE. Early Humans Humans originated in western Kandron, spreading out into West Pripascia and Southern Minarim about 70,000 years ago. At an unknown point humans began to use fire to cook food and keep warm, enabling them spread to survive in colder climates like northern Kandron. The earliest humans lived in small, nomadic bands as hunter/gatherers, using primitive stone-based technologies. Early humans also developed basic languages and showed primitive artistic expression in the form of cave drawing and bone sculptures. Agricultural Revolution Around 11,000 years ago (~9,000 AE) humans developed agriculture, causing a huge shift in lifestyle worldwide. Agriculture is believed to have originated in the Golden Corridor of West Pripascia, which is a naturally fertile area. Crop cultivation supported a far greater number of people in a smaller area, allowing the development of the permanent settlements. The food surplus created by farming allowed humans to support other activities not related to the production of food, facilitating the growth of culture, trade, and politics. Towns and cities became the centers for these activites, as well as large populations centers, supported by the food-producing countrysides around them. Ancient Era Classical Age (9,000 AE - 1,400 AE) The Classical Age began around 9,000 AE with the discovery of agriculture by the nomadic hunter/gatherers of the Golden Corridor in central West Pripascia. As the discovery spread, humans began to settle for the first time and a huge increase in the availability of food facilitated the first great population boom. By 7000 AE, most hunter/gatherers had settled in towns and begun building cohesive civilisations. Corstan Corstan, a city-state in the Arid Peninsular in around 5000 AE, is widely considered the first true human civilization. Rising as a regional power throughout the early 5th millenium AE, the Corstanians eventually controlled a small empire and established trade with other fledgling civilisations. The Corstanians also had primitive written language, known today as alphanine, but it remains indecipherable. Great Peoples The Great Peoples were a number of large nomadic civilisations which dominated Northern Minarim between 4300 AE and 3400 AE. They were herders and gatherers, moving slowly across the land with massive herds of cattle, and establishing tent cities near rivers and lakes. The absence of horses in Northern Minarim during this era led Great Peoples to use oxen for vehicle power. Different groups are believed to have engaged in huge infantry battles, and some of the most advanced ranged weapons of the era have been discovered in the region. Around 3400, for unknown reason, many of the Great Peoples migrated further south and began to settle. The presence and breath of the Great Peoples is known because of the wealth of archeological artifacts, particularly arrowheads and stone figurines, unearthed in the Current Era. A second wave of nomadic civilisations, known as the Late Nomads, swept across Northern Minarim beginning in 400 AE. Far less is known about these cultures and they are considered mostly unrelated to the Great Peoples. These nomads disappeared again the early Crumbling Age. Tonaric Empire Residing in the dense jungle valleys of the Ardian Basin, the ancient Tonars created the first large stone buildings around 2500 AE. Hoponine A cohesion of Kandronian tribal cultures, the ancient Hoponine civilisation eventually stretched from the foothills of the Aedium Range to the South Salanic Ocean. Vetuian Age (1,400 AE - 0 AE) The Vetuian Age (also known as the Vetuian Era) lasted between 1400 AE and 0 AE, and was the second major civilised age of humanity. Expanding out of the damp lands on the coast of the Corona Gulf into the lush Colden Corridor, the Ancient Vetuians conquered much of both West and East Pripascia by 1000 AE, and went on to control large sections of both Kandron and Minarim. As the dominant technological and military power of their time, the Vetuians usually had little trouble subjugating primitive cultures and absorbing them into a super-colossal military-political union which eventually became the multifaceted Vetuian Republic. Under the Republic, the Pripascian lands under Vetuian control were divided into fully codependent geopolitical states of varying importance and power, with a central government in Vetuia. Between 900 AE and 300 AE, the Republic experienced a great golden age of relative peace (ignoring ongoing scuffles with border states) and technological advancement, as well as colonial expansion in Minarim and Kandron. Vetuian academics supposedly invented prototypical versions of the printing press and mechanical clock, while also developing scientific method and making significant strides in astronomy. Many of these discoveries are hard to verify, as most Vetuian knowledge was lost and forgotten in the early Current Era (CE). However, Vetuian writing and language form the basis for almost every modern Pripascian language, and it was the rediscovery of Vetuian culture which sparked the Age of Recovery in the 11th century CE. Fall of the Vetuian Republic The end of Vetuia began in the 3rd Century AE. Between 286 AE and 243 AE, the Republic was hit with a crippling plague which killed millions and weakened the Vetuian military. After the plague burned itself out in the late 3rd Century AE, the war with the states bordering the Republic intensified. These states, often known collectively to the Vetuians as Barefoot Cultures, were “barbaric” nations, often tribal or nomadic, which had strongly opposed Vetuian integration through the centuries. Though the Republic had been untouchable for 600 years, corruption in Vetuia, coupled with economic stagnation and disharmony between the states, provided a foothold which the Cultures exploited to strike crippling blows into Vetuian territory. The following 200 years saw the slow decline of Vetuian civilization as it succumbed to perpetual war and internal fragmentation. The Vetuian Age, along with the Ancient Era, ended in 0 AE with the sacking and total destruction of Vetuia. Other Civilsations Though Vetuia was the indisputably the dominant civilization of the late Ancient Era, many other nations and prominent groups existed during this millennia. In Kandron, large clannish civilisations, most notably the ancient Katikan Empire, opposed the Republic long enough to witness or contribute to its demise. Curiously, the xenophobic desert peoples of Palaisle appear to have remained mostly independent throughout the Vetuian Age, probably due to Vetuian’s weak grasp of seafaring. Many nomadic cultures of Northern Minarim endured well into the early Current Era, having had little contact with the Vetuians. Unfortunately, only a handful of the records these cultures left, if they left any at all, survived the cataclysmic post-Vetuian ages. In Southern Minarim many tropical civilisations, like the Tursi, were mostly unaffected by either the Vetuian Republic or its downfall. As a result some modern scholars, especially in nations outside Pripascia, have argued that "Vetuian Age" is an inappropriate name for the period. Popular alternate names are Second Civilised Age and Late Ancient Age. In his book, The Birth, Life, and Death of Vetuia, historian Joseph Bisan referred to the Vetuian Age as the "Quasi-Vetuian Age," in reference to the fact that it was almost - but not entirely - dominated by Vetuia. Current Era Crumbling Age (1 CE - 300 AE) The beginning of the Crumbing Age, known also as the First Post-Vetuian Age, is dated as 1 CE, but it is usually considered to begin around 50 AE, during the death throes of the Vetuian Republic. The fall of the Vetuia is considered a great apocalypse, and the Crumbling Age was characterized by the total collapse of all advanced civilization, and the consequent loss of scientific and technological discoveries of every nature. As the former Republic imploded, dozens of wars broke out between hundreds of factions across West and East Pripascia. Life became short and brutal as short-lived empires and kingdoms rose and fell across the world. Even surviving civilizations of the Ancient Era like the Katikan Empire eventually disintegrated into factional and tribal conflicts. Many former Vetuian cultures scattered and fled to other parts of the globe, spreading Vetuian language and life to far flung corners of the globe. The Crumbling Age continued until 300 CE when most major conflict calmed and the world entered the Empty Centuries. The Empty Centuries (301 CE - 1099 CE) Recovery (1100 CE - 1400 CE) The Recovery began in 1100, after the Modern Age (1401 CE onward)